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April 29, 2012

G21: White Sox 4, Red Sox 1

Gavin Floyd (6.2-3-1-1-9, 111) retired the first 14 Boston batters and did not allow a hit until Dustin Pedroia singled with one out in the seventh.

Beckett (6.2-6-3-3-8, 126) allowed singles to Alejandro De Aza and Alex Rios and a home run to Adam Dunn to put the Red Sox in a quick 3-0 hole.

All three of Boston's hits came in the seventh. With two outs, David Ortiz doubled Pedroia to third and Cody Ross singled him in. The only other baserunners were Ross, who walked in the fifth, and Mike Aviles, who walked in the eighth.

Odd managing decision by Bobby Valentine: He let Nick Punto bat with two outs and runners at first and third (the potential tying runs) in the seventh, then used three pinch-hitters in the following inning.

The 126 pitches tied a career high for Beckett (first done in 2004 for the Marlins). Peter Abraham tweeted that Jon Lester (122) and Beckett (126) are first the Red Sox pitchers to go over 122 pitches in consecutive games since Pedro Martinez (127) and Tim Wakefield (124) did it in a July 21, 1998 doubleheader at Cleveland.

The Red Sox finished the road trip 6-1 - which did not seem remotely possible after last Saturday's debacle against the Yankees. (The Red Sox have had only one undefeated road trip of at least seven games in their entire history, a 9-0 trip from July 29 to August 7, 1977.) They are back at Fenway tomorrow night for a brief homestand against Oakland and the first-place Orioles.

I know the bullpen was sucking like nobody's business earlier, but still, his choices some nights did not put guys in the best position to succeed. He left Bard in way too long in that 1-0 loss, he stayed with Beckett too long today, he used Justin Thomas way more than he should have, he has had relievers pitch against their LH/RH splits when he had better options, and he had failed to get a reliever ready in time for when he is needed (forcing him to stay with (I think) Morales too long against the Twins comes to mind).

Of course, Francona did this stuff, too.

And BV's comments about how he is still learning about the players ("finding out what I've got") makes me wonder what he did in Fort Myers.

It could also be that after not managing for 10 or 12 years, it is tough to get back into the flow of a game. If so, I would expect him to improve. After all, he was billed as a briliant in-game tactician. I have not seen that, yet.